The shine, reflections, fragility and resistance, all together make glass one of the most mysterious materials.

About

He´s always been fascinated by glass, as long as he can remember. As a child he lived in a small Polish town, famous for its glass: Szklarska Poręba in the Karkonosze (Giant) Mountains - the town which left its glass mark on him.

For Marcin, it’s the combination of the shine, reflection, fragility and resistance of glass which makes it one of the most mysterious materials. The heat needed to make this beautiful, transparent substance remains in the glass, like a spirit. While working with it, Marcin discovers the unique identity of each piece of the material, its limitations and possibilities. He comes across unexpected challenges, which for him are like a gate through which he sees deeper layers, the character and structure of the glass, and these things bring out his passion.

Marcin has specialized in making unique glass objects. In the past, he designed usable glass forms, stained glass and glass mosaics. He creates graphic design and photography, as well as graphic prints using a traditional technique called aquatint. For a while he was active in a very different niche: doing charity work for the Polish community in The Netherlands, mostly as a personal adviser. However diverse that might sound, it granted him the inspiration to discover and explore different ways of creating his glass objects.

For a year Marcin worked as an assistant in the Badiarov Violins Studio in The Hague, which gave him fresh and original ideas about how to work with glass. Different qualities of wood and rough glass are very different materials. Both provide many different possibilities and difficulties; both are full of surprises and secrets. All these experiences, in many different areas, using different techniques and materials, have prepared the ground for the new glass objects that Marcin makes by hand, without using machines.

Philosophy

Did you know that glass is defined as a non-organic material that, when cooled down, becomes solid, without crystallization? Theoretically, glass is a supercooled liquid. Seventy percent of this liquid is quartz sand. Glass can now be found everywhere so it’s logical, perhaps, that people just see it for what it is. Glass has been with us since ancient times - back then it was more valuable than rubies or emeralds!

The mystical light from stained glass filled the interiors of the cathedrals.

Marcin is enchanted by glass. By its mystery, purity, nobility. Its simplicity and sophistication. The plasticity and consistency. Flexibility – put it with wood, metal or stone, make it colorless and colorful - glass looks good with everything. Marcin is fascinated by its purity, vulnerability, and then its durability - the extreme nature of glass! Glass melts without losing its quality. Even thousand-year-old glasswork still radiates that magical glow - the shape and pure color remain.

For Marcin glass is a metaphor for Infinity. Or being Reborn. For years he has used glass as a sculpting material. With the emphasis on form, space and texture, he takes a long time to carefully experiment. He plays with it, meditates on it. His motives are abstract and imaginative, yet also very organic. His sculptures are like strange worms from distant galaxies. Their forms resemble the Möbius Ribbon – the symbol of Infinity.

Work techniques and materials

Using glass as a working material provides many possibilities, but causes just as many difficulties. Shine, transparency, reflection and soft shapes are the polar opposites of the breakable nature of this material. Patience is the best, but also the most important, "tool" to have when beginning to work with glass.

Sculptures

Since 2012, Marcin has been working with glass by using only hand tools. He deliberately stopped using glass cutting machines and now only the polishing process is supported by mechanical work. The glass for his sculptures is given to him as a gift, or it comes from old glass plates. The idea is to use second-hand glass and, through creation, to give a second life to this recyclable and most ecological material. In addition, handwork saves water and electricity, which makes Marcin's objects environmentally friendly, with no harm to nature, and 100% ecological. His innovative way of working gives the glass objects a variety of shapes, colors and light effects. All his sculptures are made with a cold technique, without using a furnace or melting process. Making a glass sculpture is a combination of taking up a challenge, good planning, patience, sometimes struggling, often discovering, but most of all enjoying the entire process.